


Balancing Life and Death

by Tokoshui



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fortune teller tenten, M/M, Modren Au, Neji still dies, ya know as a treat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:53:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23653390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tokoshui/pseuds/Tokoshui
Summary: The question is not whether to live.Rather the question is how to live.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Rock Lee, Nejilee - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Balancing Life and Death

Fate had been more than unkind; striking him with a sickness that caused him to know the hospital walls better than the layout of what was supposed to be his own home. He reflected alot, he had the time to, on why fate predetermined that not only should he be born, but that he would be born sick. In his opinion it in itself was sick and twisted. Had he only lived to die? To be on bed rest? To be in the hospital all his life.   
At some point Neji Hyuuga had tried making friends when he was younger, but healthy children are never in the hospital. He lost many of friends to childhood cancers and ailments that he had stopped trying to make friends all together. It was too hard, because Neji did make it to adulthood. Not the fun adulthood that he had heard about on tv or could see on the nurses coming back from their weekends. No the adulthood where you go to college and underage drink neither of which fate would allow.   
He wondered why it was so cruel to him. He thought he never asked for much, just a normal life-but perhaps in itself the request was too much. Too much kindness for fate.   
Neji’s hospital days could be put into one of two categories, bad and not so bad.   
Some days the pain of his body and soul would ease away, when he was younger he mistook those days as him getting well. Now he knows better. He walks through the double wide halls of the hospital. Knowing the layout of the hospital better than the layout of what was supposed to be his childhood home, he wondered about. It was before visiting hours. Trying to determine what kind of day it would be.   
It was his birthday, he was finally turning eighteen. It was bittersweet. He was finally an adult and for some reason he thought that he would be better. That everything would be better as soon as he was an adult. So far they hadn’t and he couldn’t help, but be bitter. Kids his age were worrying about prom and graduation. Well he had taken his GED a long time ago and any higher education for Neji would be a poor investment.   
It wasn’t fair. Was he born only to die. That was the recurring question that haunted him.   
He wasn’t going to think about that today, or he was going to try not to. It was his birthday after all and that should mean something. He would at least try.   
He made his way to the waiting room-he didn’t necessarily like being there, seeing parents, lovers and friends fret overing if they would ever see their loved ones again-the waiting room did have the better vending machines though. Which is why he had decided to leave his room. The waiting room was empty, well almost. There was a girl with brown hair twisted into buns either side of her head, freckles spotting over her porcelain skin. She was hunched over in an impossibly uncomfortable overstuffed chair, shuffling cards that seemed a little too big and a little too colorful to be regular cards. She effortlessly put cards over each other as if she was afraid to bend them. Maybe she was, Neji didn’t know. He didn’t particularly care as he passed her to the vending machine. It was a small miracle that Neji was grateful for. The vending machine stuffed with all the accomadies of a convenience store. It was magical for him, whenever he picked out whatever candy or bag of chips he wanted, made him feel normal. Made him feel as if he wasn’t raised on hospital food. Made him feel like friends had stopped by to check on him. It seldomly used the machine. Afraid that any magic he had constructed for it would fade from overuse. However it was a special occasion. He put his quarters in and quickly made his selection. As he did so he felt light brown eyes bore into his back. Was it the strange woman looking at him? And if so why? He glanced to see that his suspicions were in fact correct.   
“May I help you?” He asks.   
“No, but maybe I can help you.” She says, Neji learned a long time ago that hospitals make people-weird. For a nice way to put things.   
“How so?”  
“Sit down” And he did sit down across her so he could see her clearly. He was suspicious and intrigued. He had never seen a fortune teller, usually the programs he had seen that would include fortune teller were frauds or thieves. He may have been contained in the hospital for his entire life, he refused to be naive.   
“These are tarot cards. They answer questions and give you insight.”   
“I thought they could only tell the future.”   
“They can do that too if you wish.”   
“I already know my future.” Neji had resided that fate had wished for him to die before his life really had begun.   
“Do you? Well, it doesn’t hurt to double check than huh?”   
“I suppose not.” He had always carried a bit of hope, one that was easy to ignite yet quick to dim as well. He wanted to hear her out. At least a little bit.   
He sat down as she continued to shuffle the deck with ease, one hand over. She set the deck on the coffee table and dramatically flipped the top card over revealing a pastel pink card adorning a small blue scythe with a brown handle facing upwards with the number thirteen printed neatly and underline.   
“Death” She said, somewhat cheerily.   
“I knew I was going to die.” Just had the hope burst it died down almost immediately   
“Don’t be so dramatic, everyone dies. Plus that’s not what the card means usually.”   
“So what does it mean.”   
“It means new opportunities and adventures”   
“So shouldn’t it be rebirth?”   
“No, the major arcana is the fool’s journey. Something has to die in order for change to happen. Maybe an old outlook or a habit.”   
The beeper on his watch went off. It was for his medication, he couldn’t miss a dose. It would mess his medication up.   
“Sorry, but I have to be going.” He says standing up and giving her a slight bow.   
“I am sure we will meet again.”   
By the time he had gotten back to his room he wasn’t very confident that the exchange in the waiting room had even happened at all. It was a little too strange of an event.   
Rebirth through death, the concept was almost lost to him. But would have fate sent this exchange if it wasn’t meant to happen. He had a lot to think about, but again it wasn’t like there was much he could do to be reborn. To do things differently. He was limited here, but he was used to that by now and he couldn’t expect anything different unless a doctor burst in claiming to have found a cure, but if that were to happen it would have had happened anyway.   
His birthday went pretty much as he had expected it too. His father, Hinata and her father came. Gave him the customary present from each before talking to him briefly. Hinata dragged Neji from bed to wander the halls so the fathers could resign to play shogi and so she could give him a private gift. As she did every year. He appreciated it though. That every year she went through the effort for a private gift. Usually something that she had made. So far he had a tied blanket, a crochet scarf, a knit sweater, an abundance of bracelets woven and strung with beads and last year she had painted a beautiful brown henna on the back of his hand. This year she had given him a scrapbook of them to commemorate their friendship. Full of candid photos of the two throughout the years. He loved everything that she had made and given him.   
He used to be jealous of her, how even though they had been born in the same month and of similar genetic makeup she was healthy and he was born sick and a burden upon the family and a financial burden on the clan. He used to blame her. But she would be the only one to actively visit to care. She was the only friend that wouldn’t die or get better and forget about Neji. She had always been there throughout the years. And he decided that he couldn’t bring himself to hate her anymore. Not when she was so caring.   
They made their way to the cafeteria, which was always bustling with doctors and visitors, the food was never good, but it was never too bad.   
“I’ll be right back.” HInata said before going off to leave Neji alone. Neji didn’t really mind. He scanned the cafeteria and saw the girl in the waiting room. She made eye contact with him and was waving him down. He hurried over to her table. It was her and someone else, with huge black eyebrows, round dark brown eyes, tan skin and the most hideous green jumpsuit he had ever seen. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the bold man.   
“I was right, we meet again.” She said, her smile reaching her eyes.   
“I hardly call this running into each again.”   
“Lee, this is the guy I was talking about.”   
“It is an honor to meet you, my name is Lee and this is my sister Tenten” Lee had gotten up to bow to him. What a strange kid. He had never seen someone so formal with a complete strange as Lee was being to him. It was kind of nice to experience it.  
“My name is Neji Hyuuga.” He says, crossing his arms.   
“We are about to depart on a road trip, however we had to postpone because our father got into an accident and we need to make sure he is okay.” Tenten explained, Neji didn’t really care. If he cared about every single case that ended up here he would be more stressed than the doctors.  
“Neji!” Hinata called out, finding him at the table “Are these friends of yours?” She asked, absolutely beaming and happy that he had made friends after all these years.  
“This is Tenten and Lee.” He introduced them to her, he couldn’t bring himself to shatter her illusion.   
“I am Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga.” She says, taking a seat next to Tenten who offered to read her future as well. They sat at the table and talked. Lee explained how they were going to go to each landlocked state in America and visit the wonder of each trip. Neji couldn’t help by being enamored by the idea of being able to travel and to see things firsthand that he had only seen in photos or remakes through movies. He wondered what it would like to be so free.   
“You could come to if you wanted. We have plenty of room.” Lee had offered which he declined almost immediately. He didn’t want their pity, he was so tired of hearing ‘I’m sorry’.   
“Well, sleep on it. Depending on the news about our father we were planning on leaving tomorrow at 10 am” Tenten said giving him a wink. He wondered if his reading was planned.   
It wasn’t long before Hyuugas had to excuse themselves.   
“It must be amazing to be able to travel like that.” Hinata softly said. Neji thought about it, he had never been out of any building long enough. He had lived eighteen years on this Earth, but he had never stepped foot in a gas station or laid in the grass and fell asleep under the sun, he had never been in a grocery store or had gone swimming in a lake or ocean. His life had seemed able to condense into a few short weeks of memory. Was it wrong for him to want more than fluorescent lights and waxed tile?   
It was selfish, leaving behind his family. If he went he would be lucky to make it to five years. That is what he had always heard. Five years, if he were lucky and he had never been lucky, off his medication.   
“I want to go with them.” He had expected Hinata to explode to convince him to stay. Threatened to tell her father.   
“Neji I am so proud of you. Try and write to me when you have the time.” was her unexpected answer. What was more unexpected was that she had reached up to her hair and pulled out a hair decoration. It had been fashioned throughout the generations, it was a bird that had been molded out of gold and silver. It had been a pin, a brooch, a comb, and many other things, it still meant one thing. The heir of the clan. When Hinata got it, the bird had been mounted on a piece of rough and sturdy leather and stayed in her hair by a pin going through her hair and resurfaced and went through the other hole in the leather. She had been gifted it to her at thirteen and had worn it everyday. It was her most favorite thing. Her hair unfolded and rested by her ears. She motioned for Neji to turn it around and gathered his long hip length hair, gathering it and pinning it in place.   
“Something to remember me by.” She said. Shortly after returning to his hospital room, Hinata and her father had left.   
“Happy Birthday Neji, we will figure something out. I love you.” He was referring to the fact that Neji was going to be kicked off of his dad’s health insurance. Neji wasn’t as worried as he had been an hour ago about the situation.   
“I love you too dad.”


End file.
